GOOGLE NEWZ!

GOOGLE INTROS MAPS ENGINE API FOR CUSTOM-MADE, CLOUD-BASED MAPS

Summary:
Google touts that its
new Maps Engine API can be used for virtually any kind of
application, with business use cases ranging from healthcare to retail.

By Rachel King

Google has introduced a new API for its Maps Engine, touted to
enable developers to build "endless kinds of applications" all
while hosted in the Internet giant's cloud.
To recall, The Maps Engine is essentially the reincarnation of
Google Earth Builder
, which lets developers use Google's cloud infrastructure for
storing and managing their own geospatial data and maps.
Users can also use the service to share their custom Google Maps
with other employees, clients,and the public-at-large.
Touted to be supported by "any
platform" (i.e. Web, Android, iOS,etc.), the new API will provide a link between developers' apps and the Maps Engine for editing geospatial data.
The Maps Engine API is a RESTful API, meaning that all requests to the API are HTTP requests. Thus,any programming language with an HTTP library can be used to query or modify data in this API.
However, developers should know that Google's API client
libraries currently don't support the JavaScript Object Notation standard format returned by the Google Maps Engine API.
Google product manager Jen Kovnats pointed toward some
particular business use cases in a blog post on Wednesday.
For example, FedEx.com uses the API to query its
more than 50,000 retail locations and IRIS creates applications for utilities to track underground pipelines.FedEx IT manager Pat Doyle
explained further in a separate blog post how the API ties in
with other Google services, such
as Google Street View and driving directions.
By hosting attributes,
such as street addresses, opening
hours, holiday schedules and local
pick-up times on Maps
Engine, we can update
details for nearly
50,000 retail touchpoints in real-time and share this
information to
FedEx.com visitors
within minutes. This
helped us replace a
patchwork of region-
bound store locators
with a single, global
site.
Interested developers and existing Google Maps Engine customers can contact the Google sales team now about signing up for access to the API.